How do libraries succeed in hard times when they have lower budgets and higher use? Join us for Libraries in Hard Times, an open forum highlighting the role of libraries during a recession. Discover new ideas to stretch your budget; learn advocacy techniques from experts; and find out how ALA is helping us help ourselves. Adapt to new fiscal new realities, learn how to help your library and libraries nationwide and promote library funding through national and local advocacy.

How do libraries succeed in hard times when they have lower budgets and higher use? Join us for Libraries in Hard Times, an open forum highlighting the role of libraries during a recession. Discover new ideas to stretch your budget; learn advocacy techniques from experts; and find out how ALA is helping us help ourselves. Adapt to new fiscal new realities, learn how to help your library and libraries nationwide and promote library funding through national and local advocacy.

Speakers:

Speakers:

Revision as of 14:07, 22 June 2009

2009 ALA Membership Meeting

Membership Forums and Meetings are one important way that you can affect what ALA does. You can express your views at the Forum and at the Meeting you can vote on resolutions to send to Council.

How do libraries succeed in hard times when they have lower budgets and higher use? Join us for Libraries in Hard Times, an open forum highlighting the role of libraries during a recession. Discover new ideas to stretch your budget; learn advocacy techniques from experts; and find out how ALA is helping us help ourselves. Adapt to new fiscal new realities, learn how to help your library and libraries nationwide and promote library funding through national and local advocacy.
Speakers:

Each of four panelists will give a short (5-minute) introduction to the issues and then open the floor to questions and answers.

Resolutions and Talk to the Leaders
In the second half of each meeting we will discuss member resolutions and have a “talk to the leaders” session with ALA President Jim Rettig, President-Elect Camila Alire, and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels.

The panel’s initial remarks at the two meetings will be the same. The panel questions and answers, the resolutions, and the questions to the ALA leaders usually differ greatly from meeting to meeting.

ALA Membership Meetings and How They Work

What is an ALA Membership Meeting?
ALA Membership Meetings are an opportunity for ALA members to make things happen in the American Library Association. ALA members can bring issues important to libraries and librarianship to the floor and decide how they might be addressed within ALA.

When are ALA Membership Meetings held?
A Membership Meeting is held during the first two days of the Annual Conference and at other times that may be set by the ALA Executive Board, ALA Council, or by membership petition as provided for in ALA Bylaw Article II, Section 2.

Who may attend ALA Membership Meetings?
All ALA personal members.

How is the agenda for the meetings set?
The Committee on Membership Meetings is charged with planning the agenda for the membership meetings as specified in ALA Policy 7.4.10.

Over the past few years, the Committee on Membership Meetings has developed suggested agendas, which include some “hot” discussion topics to draw ALA members to the meetings.

The ALA members present at the meeting can change the proposed agendas at any time. Any discussion topics suggested by the committee, or others, are given second place to resolutions proposed by the ALA members.

Who makes membership resolutions?
YOU--ALA personal members.

The resolution can be on any topic or issue that falls within the resolution guidelines (see reverse side of this page). It is important to remember that the Council Resolutions Committee must review all membership resolutions. Resolutions can be easily submitted well in advance of the ALA Annual Conference by sending them by Michael Golrick, chair. The Council Committee on Resolutions' table will be in the ALA Office Area at the McCormick Place Convention Center. It's table schedule is available now (Doc).

All resolutions approved by the membership are presented at the next ALA Council meeting. “The presiding officer of Council calls for Council’s guidance on the disposition of each membership item in turn.” (ALA Policy 7.4.10)

A final thought

This meeting is YOUR meeting. Members control the content of all membership meetings. Any member may speak on any topic by standing at a microphone. When the microphone number is called, you state your name, then say “ALA Personal Member” and speak to the topic on the floor. There is a bit of formality about this process, but it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of observation to understand how things work.

Guidelines and Resources

YALSA President’s Program & Membership Meeting: Creativity Counts: Nurturing Teens' Talents at Libraries Large & Small Monday 1:30 to 3:00. The 2009 YALSA President's Program will feature a panel of speakers who are sure to inspire the audience to engage teens' creative juices at their libraries. Whatever the medium - creative writing, photography, fine arts, music, theater, design, gaming, cartooning, digital media production - all of these endeavors can and should be nurtured and advocated by librarians who work with teens. This program will highlight the realistic potential of all types of libraries, both big and small.